Dead Space: The Hunt
by RogueMusician
Summary: Isaac's work is never done. He begins his hunt on the UCF Kazuyoshi, delving deeper into the nightmare as new mysteries and horrors unfold. SPOILERS: If you have not finished the second game, well... its up to you if you want to read this.
1. Touchdown

**Chapter 1: Touchdown**

As the old familiar sound of an airlock opening filled Isaac's ears he shuddered. Acknowledging that he was willingly about to board the UCF Kazuyoshi in order to destroy the marker and the necromorphs onboard.

_*static* _"Isaac, you alright?"

Ellie's voice penetrated his helmet.

"Yeah, just taking a moment before I start this shit again…"

"You can do it Isaac, I know you can. And this time, you have me as backup if needed."

Isaac let out a reassuring sigh, "Thanks, I'll radio you soon to tell you I'm still alive… hopefully."

The glow from Isaac's suit slightly illuminated several feet around him, but gave him no security, for he knew beyond that dim glow, any of the mind's deepest horrors could be awaiting him. Isaac knew he had to do this though. He booted up his heads up display and opened his map of the Kazuyoshi, plotting which course he would attempt to take through the freighter. Once he decided, he double-checked his ammo reserves, nodded, and pulled out his trusty plasma cutter. As Isaac brought his gun up to eye level, the flashlight attachment and aiming reticle pierced the darkened room before him.

He heard small grunts and growls as he moved his beam of light across the room. Finally he took one last calm breath, not knowing the next time he would reach a safe haven.

Isaac started off with a light jog from the docking station, wanting to get this nightmare over with as soon as possible, but still staying very cautious of his surroundings. As he approached the large double doors to the main reception area, memories of his past adventures flashed through his mind. As he shook the memories off, he gently touched the door's open panel, stepped back, and drew his plasma cutter.

As the door hissed and slid open, Isaac's now trained senses immediately saw the rotting flesh of the necromorph, and by the time the door was fully open fired three times. Once in the neck, and once on each thigh, instantaneously dismembering and killing the first necromorph. As Isaac looked up from his first kill he realized he was still far from alone, as several more pairs of eyes turned to acknowledge his presence.

Isaac readied himself. The first necromorph sprinted towards him, as it got within arm's reach, Isaac swung, full force, colliding the gun with the necromorph's neck._ In that moment Isaac praised himself for modifying his plasma cutter with medium sized, surgically sharp, curved blades on the bottom and top of the gun for more efficient close quarter combat with these dreaded creatures._ As the newly severed head left the necromorphs body, Isaac kicked the remaining torso into the now advancing group of necromorphs causing them to form a pile on the floor. Isaac then fired several precision bursts into the pile to finish the skirmish.

He released a heavy sigh, his empty casing clinking against the floor as he reloaded his weapon. After cautiously checking all the vents and holes in the room he then proceeded to loot the dead necromorphs, still wondering how such items as ammo and med kits found their way into these creatures' heads and torsos…

Isaac continued down the next several hallways slightly surprised at the lack of necromorphs and consequently, bloodstains. Yet just as soon as the thought crossed his mind…

_CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK_

A deafening roar shook the walls.

"I knew this was getting too easy…"

Ellie's face appeared in front of him on his heads up display. "Isaac! Are you ok? I heard that from outside the ship! It sounded like it came from the tram station though."

"Wonderful… right where I need to be... well, I don't know what it was but I bet I'm going to find out soon…unfortunately. But I'll radio you soon if I need help killing whatever it may be.

Ellie pleaded into the comm. "Be careful Isaac…"

"I always am, radio you soon…"

He peered around the next corner. A divider was swaying in place, the only obstacle between Isaac, the tram station, and the unknown monstrosity. Isaac thought for a brief moment and realized the simple solution. He pulled out his pulse rifle and walked out into the hallway. The divider started its march towards Isaac. As it did so, Isaac brought his rifle to aim and pulled the rail on the bottom of the rifle, releasing its secondary fire, a high velocity grenade. On impact, the divider split into its five smaller, but just as deadly counterparts. As the smaller beings were regaining their foothold after just being blasted apart, Isaac launched one more grenade, decimating them on the spot. After reloading, he walked over to the door, released another deep sigh, and hit the open panel…

**Authors Note: **_This is my first story ever but I decided I would give it a shot. As far as reviews go, be as brutally honest as you like. I got a lot planned for this story so stay tuned. Also this is eventually going to be a crossover with mass effect but I have a while before I start getting to that, so I'm going to leave it just as a regular dead space fanfic for now. Hopefully I'll be able to write more often so stay tuned if you like._


	2. Confrontation

**Chapter 2: Confrontation**

Isaac stepped halfway through the doorway, gun raised, flashlight beaming, and observed his surroundings. The tram station Isaac was in closely resembled the tram stations from the Ishimura. The only difference between the two was the wall behind the tram-tunnel was high strength glass so you could see into the abysmal darkness of space. Unfortunately most of this glass was covered by the corruption, a strange organic material that resembled some sort of skin on the wall; although there were several patches of the glass still untainted.

As Isaac examined the rest of the station, he saw that it was covered in what appeared to be the corruption, but in strands.

_Almost like a web…_

Isaac shuddered at the thought and possible nightmare that could follow. He took a full step into the room, still scanning over every wall, vent, chair, and web… slowly striding across the room, he eventually reached the tram control panel. Feeling an odd presence he quickly aimed above him, shining his light on the darkened ceiling. Several mangled bodies hanging from strands of corruption stared blankly back at him, organs hanging out, reaching towards the floor as if they wanted to be let down.

By this point, all these scenes of extreme gore and brutality did not faze Isaac. Throughout the last few years Isaac has seen, and fought places and creatures that he thought were beyond comprehension from even the deepest, darkest nightmares possible. He also knew that the nightmare was far from over.

_Hell_, he thought, _I can't even start to think about how to describe what that roar might have come from._ But he knew he would unfortunately find out soon.

He pressed the button to call the tram. A loud buzz filled the room, signaling the tram was inbound. There was a moment of silence, then a loud *thud* and the screech of brakes.

An error message appeared on the screen before Isaac.

"Tram pathway blocked… great…"

He began walking towards the tunnel entrance until the deafening roar shattered the silence. The sound shook through every fiber of Isaac's suit. He tried to cover the sound receptors on his helmet but to no avail. As the roar finally subdued, Isaac's ears were still ringing, but he still managed to hear the next nightmare-ish sound emit itself from the tunnel.

_CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK_

The sound sent icicles down Isaac's spine; yet he still managed to stand and quickly ready himself after being almost crippled by the deafening roar.

_CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK_

The creature emerged from the tunnel. It could almost have been described as a thirty foot tall spider. It was completely composed of necromorphs and tram tunnel pieces. Its eight legs were made of pointed support beams. Its main torso made of hundreds of necromorphs and tram cables meshed together with arms and claws protruding everywhere. Its thorax was covered in corrupted panels from the tunnel walls, giving it a type of armor. Although Isaac could see a dim yellow glow from between the panels and he kept that in mind. The creature's fangs were also made of steel spikes. Where the rest of its head should have been were placed three giant, grotesque necromorphs. Their bodies placed only from the waist up, were strapped in by the corruption. Their jaws unhinged and stretched to inhuman gaping proportions, as if permanently screaming in agony.

Isaac looked on in awe and horror at the creature standing before him. As he quietly regained his composure the creature brought down one of its massive legs. Isaac dodged quickly, immediately hitting the creature with stasis as he got up. In the few seconds it was frozen in time, Isaac pummeled its leg and heads with plasma cutter shots, searching for any weak points, but to no avail. The spider regained its normal speed and proceeded to strike again.

Isaac dodged several more times, using stasis each time and searching for any weak points. Eventually he only had one more stasis shot left; he decided to save it just in case.

"Alright plan B." Isaac said as he looked around the room.

Using his kinesis module, Isaac picked up a bench and heaved it at the spider. It struck the spider on the side of the head, spinning it around, giving Isaac a chance to assault its thorax. Using kinesis he ripped off two of the panels revealing dim-yellow glowing flesh.

_Gotcha!_

Enraged, the spider spun around legs flailing. A leg caught Isaac on the side, sending him soaring towards the wall. Instead of impacting the wall, Isaac managed to ensnare himself in a web of corruption. While still having one arm free, Isaac pulled off two more panels from the spider's thorax; leaving a moderately sized weak-spot. Just as he accomplished this, the nightmare creature plucked Isaac from its web.

While being dragged through the air, Isaac shouted into his comm.,

"Ellie! I'm in the tram station, the window is mostly covered but you should be able to fire one of the ships high-power contact beams through the opening. I weakened the spider's backside so you have a clear sh-NGH-AHHH."

Just as he relayed the message the spider used its giant mandibles and ripped off all the armor near Isaac's ribcage, revealing the un-guarded flesh underneath. Just as the spider was rearing back its fangs to finish its prey, Isaac hit the spider with his last stasis shot; a panel of glass shattered. A beam of light slammed into the soft flesh of the spider's un-armored backside, and the emergency airlock sealed the entire window from any escaping air.

Isaac dropped out of the air, impacting on the stations floor with a resounding *thud*. Quickly regaining his composure Isaac got up, pain shot through his side, but by now that did not matter. He looked upon his eight-legged foe as it began its death dance; flailing limbs everywhere, slamming into all the walls shaking the station as its glowing yellow life-force left its thorax. Its three heads released an even more stomach-churning howl as it shriveled and finally, dissipated.

"Isaac! Isaac? Please tell me you are alive in there!"

*cough* *cough* "yeah, I'm alright. You pulled that off not a moment too soon."

"That's me, Ellie's attack ship, ready to fire in a minute or less or else….well, you're dead… ha-ha…"

"Gee, thanks. Alright well I'm going to get patched up and keep heading towards the marker."

"Alright Isaac, be careful. I'm still just a comm.-length away."

"Thanks Ellie, know I can always count on you."

Isaac slowly stumbled over to the store in the tram station, checking his account and opening up his storage. Isaac always kept a spare armor in his storage, this one being his personal favorite, the elite engineering suit; an improved version of his fully upgraded engineering suit from his adventures on the Ishimura. After selecting it, he stepped into the store machine. Fastening his suit to the wall, the store door closed. Isaac closed his eyes as a bright light blasted his eyelids. He felt countless small machine arms, nanites, and lasers bombard his suit; replacing the parts of his old suit with the new parts of the elite engineering suit. As the lights dimmed and the door slid open, Isaac opened his eyes and stepped out; inspecting and adjusting the new suits armor plates.

Finally after checking his storage for a few med packs, having used some in the last battle, and refilling his ammo and stasis reserves, Isaac left the store and headed toward the tram panel once again. Another loud buzz, and finally Isaac could see lights down the tunnel. As the tram came into the station, Isaac smirked at the sound of the tram running over the degraded spider-bits as it screeched to a halt. As the door slid open, Isaac selected his next destination on the panel…engineering. From there Isaac believed there should be a freight elevator to the cargo hold. He stepped into the tram and sat down, unlocking his helmet he sighed, knowing he was only descending deeper into the nightmare. The doors slid closed, and the tram began its decent into the UCF Kazuyoshi.

**Author's note: **_Alrighty, this is all I'm gonna post for now. I'll still be writing believe me, but I want to see what kind of feedback I get just in case all my stories suck ^.^ but nonetheless enjoy! And tell me what you think!_


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